The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Tuesday (September 24th) local time, accusing financial giant Visa of illegally monopolizing the debit card market and stifling peer competition, resulting in American consumers and businesses paying a large amount of additional fees.
The service fees charged by Visa far exceed what it should charge in the market competition. Merchants and banks pass on these costs to consumers, and this behavior almost affects the prices of all goods, "said US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
In the indictment submitted to the Federal Court in New York, the US Department of Justice stated that over 60% of debit cards in the United States are processed through Visa's network, and Visa can earn over $7 billion in transaction fees from these transactions.
In response to the allegations, Visa stated that they are "baseless" and stated that they will defend themselves in court.
The indictment details Visa's "charges"
This lawsuit is the latest in a series of antitrust lawsuits filed by the Biden administration. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice filed antitrust lawsuits against Ticketmaster and Apple, while Google lost last month in the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit.
In the lawsuit against Visa, the Department of Justice stated that Visa achieved its monopoly by incentivizing potential competitors to become partners, providing "generous" kickbacks, and threatening to charge punitive fees.
The Department of Justice also accuses Visa of signing exclusive agreements with merchants and banks, punishing customers who attempt to conduct transactions through other company systems.
Prior to Tuesday's lawsuit, the Department of Justice had filed a lawsuit against Visa in 2020, which blocked Visa's plan to acquire fintech company Plaid. The Department of Justice stated at the time that this transaction would enable Visa to "maintain its monopoly position and strong competitiveness in debit cards".
In addition to Visa, another major player in the US debit card industry, Mastercard, has also been subject to regulatory scrutiny. Last year, Mastercard reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over its complaint of suppressing competitive payment networks.
Professor Douglas Ross from the University of Washington Law School believes that introducing more competition in the US debit card market may help lower transaction fees.
If we gain more competition in this field, the entire economy can save a lot of money cumulatively, but consumers may not directly notice this saved money, "Ross said." This does not mean that consumers are not harmed at present. A penny here, a penny there, and millions of transactions add up to a large sum of money
Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee, stated that the outcome of this lawsuit will still depend on how Visa defends itself.
I think to truly understand how winning such lawsuits will affect consumers (and merchants), it depends on how Visa explains it, "said Allen Walsh." They may argue that their transactions with merchants and competitors are beneficial to cardholders, and the case will largely depend on the persuasiveness of these arguments
How does Visa explain
Visa argues that it is "just one of many competitors" in the growing debit card industry and claims that the lawsuit is "baseless".
Visa's General Counsel Julie Rottenberg said in a statement, "When businesses and consumers choose Visa, it's because of our secure and reliable network, world-class fraud protection, and the value we offer
Lotte Berg stated that the lawsuit "ignores the fact that Visa is just one of the many growing competitors in the debit card field, with new entrants also thriving.
The lawsuit submitted by the Department of Justice on Tuesday did not require Visa to take specific remedial measures. However, regulatory agencies are seeking a ban to halt certain pricing and contract rules.
The indictment from the Department of Justice alleges that Visa used agreements with suppliers to force other payment processors to "not reach the scale required to compete with Visa. Law enforcement agencies have stated that Visa requires merchants and their financial institutions to make "multiple commitments", forcing them to use Visa in most card transactions, otherwise they will face higher fees.
John Donenberg, Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council, did not comment on the lawsuit, but stated that the Biden administration has "made it clear that the US economy will only thrive if there is genuine competition.
The current government has also taken action against credit card late fees and bank overdraft fees, and will continue to work hard to combat other unfair garbage fees in daily transactions, "said Donaghberg.